Maternal stress and development of infant attention to threat-related facial expressions

Unraveling the relationship between stress exposure and childhood anxiety: Considering accumulation, impact, and type in the first five years of life

Exposure to stressful events is linked to anxiety symptoms in children, although research examining this association in the first five years of life is limited. We sought to examine the role of various aspects of family stressful experiences such as the total accumulation, impact, and type (measured longitudinally in the first five years of life) on child anxiety symptoms at age 5 years. A community sample of children and their parents (N = 399) enrolled in a longitudinal study of emotion processing were assessed when the children were infants and at ages 2 years, 3 years, and 5 years. Parents completed the Revised Life Events Questionnaire (all visits) to assess family exposures to stressful life events and the Child Behavior Checklist (5 years) to assess child emotional and behavioral symptoms. Analyses showed that total stressful events accumulated by 4 years were significantly associated with child anxiety symptoms at 5 years (r = 0.118, p = 0.045). Total stressful events accumulated at earlier time points (by 1 year, 2 years, and 3 years of age) were not significantly associated with child anxiety symptoms at 5 years. Events reported as being impactful by families appeared to be more sensitive than total events, with accumulated impactful events as early as 1 year being significantly associated with child anxiety symptoms at 5 years (r = 0.112, p = 0.042). When considering types of stressors, cumulative exposure from the prenatal period to 5 years to financial stressors (β = 0.12, p = .035) was most saliently and significantly associated with child anxiety symptoms at 5 years (after adjusting for other categories of stress such as health, interpersonal, and logistical stressors). Together, these findings suggest that stressful life events accumulated in early life, particularly those rated as impactful for the family and those related to finances, are associated with child anxiety symptoms at 5 years.

Stress timing, trauma exposure, and family resilience differentially affect internalizing and externalizing symptoms at 3, 5, and 7 years of age

Mental health disorders are associated with decreased quality of life, economic productivity loss, and increased mortality. The association between stressful experiences and psychopathology is well documented. However, studies are needed to understand the impact of timing of stressful events, types of traumatic experiences, and of family resilience on internalizing and externalizing symptoms in early childhood. The present study used a longitudinal design towards this end. Parents (N = 456) completed study measures at infancy, 2 years, 3 years, 5 years, and 7 years. At 3 years, greater stressful events during the prenatal period, 1-2 years, and 2-3 years (B = 0.833-0.369, p = 0.028-0.046) predicted internalizing symptoms for female participants only. For externalizing symptoms at 3 years, every time point assessed was significantly associated with more symptoms across both sexes (B = 1.071-0.414, p < 0.001). At 5 years, both internalizing and externalizing symptoms were associated with a greater number of stressful events at every time point and across sexes (B = 1.372-0.465, p < 0.001-0.002). There was evidence for timing effects, including cumulative effects, sensitive periods, and recency effects. Exposure to interpersonal trauma associated with greater internalizing symptoms (B = 2.120, p = 0.002), whereas both interpersonal (B = 1.879, p = 0.005) and non-interpersonal (B = 1.223, p = 0.032) traumatic experiences were associated with greater externalizing symptoms. Aspects of family resilience including higher levels of family commitment, ability to face challenges, and sense of control reduced risk for internalizing symptoms (B = -0.496, p = 0.004) while only greater sense of control (B = -0.838, p = 0.040) reduced risk for externalizing symptoms at age 7 years, including in the context of trauma.

Auditory affective content facilitates time-to-contact estimation of visual affective targets

Reacting to a moving object requires an ability to estimate when a moving object reaches its destination, also referred to as the time-to-contact (TTC) estimation. Although the TTC estimation of threatening visually moving objects is known to be underestimated, the effect of the affective content of auditory information on visual TTC estimation remains unclear. We manipulated the velocity and presentation time to investigate the TTC of a threat or non-threat target with the addition of auditory information. In the task, a visual or an audiovisual target moved from right to left and disappeared behind an occluder. Participants' task was to estimate the TTC of the target, they needed to press a button when they thought that the target contacted a destination behind the occluder. Behaviorally, the additional auditory affective content facilitated TTC estimation; velocity was a more critical factor than presentation time in determining the audiovisual threat facilitation effect. Overall, the results indicate that exposure to auditory affective content can influence TTC estimation and that the effect of velocity on TTC estimation will provide more information than presentation time.

The Efficacy of a Resilience-Enhancement Program for Mothers Based on Emotion Regulation: A Randomized Controlled Trial in Japan

This study evaluated the efficacy of a brief (four 2-h sessions) group-based resilience-enhancement program focused on emotion regulation in Japan. Mothers (n = 123) of children aged 3-6 years were recruited in two prefectures and allocated with stratified randomization by the prefecture to either a bi-weekly intervention or treatment as usual. Mothers self-reported online at pre/post-intervention and at 2-month follow-up. Analysis of covariance was used to compare groups. At post-intervention and 2-month follow-up, the intervention group mothers showed significant improvements compared to the control group in resilience (p < 0.001/p = 0.001), self-esteem (p = 0.008/p = 0.001), anger control toward the child (p < 0.001/p = 0.012), and positive attribution toward the child's misbehavior (p < 0.001/p = 0.003). The partners of mothers in both groups answered the same questionnaire at the same timepoints without participating in either program; no differences between groups were found. This study was the first randomized controlled trial investigating how a resilience-enhancement program improves maternal resilience, emotion regulation, and cognition toward children and themselves. This preliminary study provides evidence that improving resilience may reduce the risk of child maltreatment. Further research regarding implementing this intervention in the community is warranted.